DualShock 3 designed for Gran Turismo, DualShock 4 designed for shooters

For many shooter fans, the Xbox 360 controller represents the gold standard. And, Sony concedes that DualShock 3 for PS3 wasn't designed with shooters in mind. The stick stiffness was loosened due to feedback from Polyphony Digital, developer of the Gran Turismo series.

For many shooter fans, the Xbox 360 controller represents the gold standard. And, Sony concedes that DualShock 3 for PS3 wasn't designed with shooters in mind. The stick stiffness was loosened due to feedback from Polyphony Digital, developer of the Gran Turismo series.

"DualShock 3 became really light because of the feedback from the Gran Turismo team," Sony's Toshimasa Aoki said. "Since they use it for steering, if it's too stiff, when you're going back and forth a lot, you get tired, so they wanted to make it lighter."

Unfortunately, that isn't necessarily ideal for shooters. So, for PS4, Sony went back to the drawing board and decided to focus on shooters this time around. "Now, for the shooters, especially for the right stick--[those developers] wanted more precise aiming," Aoki told VentureBeat. Some of the developers surveyed for the controller's development included Guerrilla (Killzone series) and Naughty Dog (Uncharted series and The Last of Us). Clearly, shooters were more important to Sony this time around.

One big change with DualShock 4 is that the dead zone is smaller, which should make a tremendous difference when playing shooters on the console. "After testing different types of stiffness, right in between DualShock 2 and DualShock 3 was the best stiffness that people liked," Aoki said.